The new $3-million chairlift is being described as the last piece of the puzzle to make Mount Sima a year-round recreational resort.

The existing lift is 37 years old, purchased used in 1992 by the Great Northern Ski Society.

The two-seat lift does not have the ability to take passengers both up and down the hill. The new four-seat lift does.

• Replacing the lift involves all new equipment and new towers up the hill.

• Attempts to sell the existing lift are being planned, either as an operating lift or for parts, as the company which built the lift went out of business eight years ago.

• A slight realignment of the towers will be made to reduce the maximum height of the main cable from the ground to no more than 10 metres or so, in keeping with today's standards in case there's a need to evacuate the chairlift. At the highest point currently, the cable is some 20 metres off the ground.

• The new lift will also be fitted in the summer with racks designed specifically to carry mountain bikes while the riders follow on the chair behind.

• The ride up the hill will be reduced from 11 minutes to nine, but with double the capacity, Mount Sima will be able to move 1,800 passengers an hour, up from 900.

• The lift comes with a loading platform that moves, so skiers and boarders are lined up and moving at half the speed of the lift in preparation for loading.

• With the year-round capability, the new chairlift is seen as a natural ingredient in the success of the new WildPlay Zoom Zipline and Monkido rope game course.

The $1.5 million in federal funding for WildPlay park was announced last August while former Indian and Northern Affairs minister Chuck Strahl was in town.

The park is under construction, and is scheduled to be ready next spring.

• The first section of the zoom zipline will run from the top of the hill to a knoll just over a kilometre away, with no stops, and will be somewhere around 80 metres off the ground at times.

Riders will be fitted in a hand-gliding harness facing down, and not in the typical parachute-style harness sitting up. It's expected adventure seekers will reach speeds of up to 90 to 100 kilometres per hour.

• The second section of the zipline will return the individual to a point near the bottom of the main hill about 600 metres away, at pretty much the same speed.

• As Mount Sima manager Parker Hickey described the ride: "It won't last very long, but you'll remember it for a long time.”

• The Monkido park is being built at the bottom of the hill, entirely separate from the ziplines

It's designed to provide challenges to both beginners and experts while climbing through a rope obstacle course of swinging bridges and logs while in a harness hook into main security through the course, anywhere from three to 20 off the ground.

• It's expected the new chairlift will provide the anchor to attract tour bus clients and others who want to experience the view of the valley from Marsh Lake to Lake Laberge, while sipping tea at the existing mountaintop tea house.

• It's estimated the facility will require a year-round staff of 15, with a winter and summer complement of some 35 full- and part-time positions.

Councillor opposes city's investment ...